


The Uniforms Women Wear

by BirdyBanter



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Domestic Violence, Episode: s01e09 Get Carter, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25130689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdyBanter/pseuds/BirdyBanter
Summary: Detective Carter thinks like a cop. But she's also a woman and matriarch.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	The Uniforms Women Wear

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think there are many fics on Carter but she's one of my favourites. After enjoying Get Carter again I had this idea and went with it. Hope you enjoy the read.

I couldn’t convince her to make a statement. I tried to tell her what would happen if she stuck to her story that she was just accident prone. That I’d be the one who’d have to investigate when her husband finally murdered her. Sadly familiar words. I’ve said them too many times. But she wouldn’t listen. And today he did it, he killed her. I couldn’t convince her and it cost her, her life. It got me thinking of another case, another time. When I tried to convince another battered wife to help me put her husband away. Mrs Kovach. I’ll always remember her, one of the lucky ones. Her husband’s rotting away in the joint. I made sure he went down for a long time. But I can’t take credit for saving her. No that was John, he gift wrapped her husband for us. And she finally pressed charges. 

Talking about John leads me to thinking about another woman murdered by her abusive husband – Jessica. John hadn’t been able to save her, she couldn’t save herself and neither could her mother. Meeting her was hard. She embodied the worst of nightmares. She was a sad woman. A woman who was just sad. But what else would you expect her to be, she’d lost her only child. She didn’t seem to know about the abuse. She may have suspected deep down. But she was either in denial or had chosen to remain ignorant. Or maybe she just couldn’t bear to consider it. I didn’t have the heart to destroy the illusion she needed so badly to cling to. I guess if someone doesn’t come to you, if they never told you, maybe you wouldn’t know. Not everyone knows the signs like I do. Can’t expect ordinary people to think like a cop. They say a mother knows but no one can know everything.

‘You can’t save everyone,’ I remember Fusco saying that on the Kovach case. No you can’t. Didn’t need him to tell me that. Though some days I have to remind myself. And others I need no reminding. But it doesn’t stop you trying or wishing it wasn’t true. Without some people the world barely limps on. And I don’t provide the crutches. With situations like this my job stops with the failure.

The uniforms we as woman wear, the different hats we put on, are many and varied. We change depending on what the situation requires of us, while attempting to stay true to our core selves. I wear a badge, a shield but we all have shields. A front we put on, armour for the daily battle, we slip into the coat of authority that allows us to stay firm at home and in the outside world. 

I can be maternal and nurturing and I hope compassionate, even in a job as tough as mine. But I can be hard and unyielding when it comes to justice. Especially when it comes to justice for women. This world is hard on women. I don’t mean a cop’s world. I mean this world, it’s a hard place for women, all women. 

Sometimes the system isn’t just. It rarely earns the title, ‘Justice System.’ Those kids, her kids, never had a father worthy of the name and now they’ve lost their mother. Even if the maternal grandparents get custody and the kids are brought up by them, it’ll be small consolation to the family I’m sure. 

He’s going to get a way with it. He’s a clever bastard. If someone has to be evil, can’t they be stupid too, make it easier for us. He made it look like an accident and he’s got a good lawyer. No matter what I do I know he’ll get off. I don’t want to go to John with this, I don’t. It’s a sore spot for him. But earlier he was unreachable, most likely saving some other poor soul, I’d put money on that. But I need this man, this poor excuse, to get what he has coming. So really there is no choice. I dial a familiar number.

‘John?’

‘Yes, Carter.’

‘I need your help with something.’ 

‘Go ahead, I’m listening.’

‘Is there a spot available in that Mexican prison of yours?’

‘Always. Who’s it for?’

‘Someone who deserves to rot there and endure every miserable minute of it.’

I’ll always remember Jackie Thomas just like I will Mrs Kovach, for very different reasons but I will remember them both. The man who hurt Jackie and her kids won’t ever hurt anyone else. Kovach and Thomas will both spend a long time in prison, maybe forever. And that thought will keep me going the next time I help someone bravely battling domestic violence.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think the law often works in favour of women. Women's rights are an international issue that isn't talked about enough. It saddens me that women in my country have to move from place to place to keep away from their abusers and stay safe. But it is the same story the world over.


End file.
